1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a torque support and a bogie, especially for a rail vehicle provided with a drive, e.g. for a locomotive.
2. Description of the Related Art
Such a bogie comprises a bogie frame. The frame supports one or several wheelsets. Each wheelset comprises wheels, a final drive with an axle and a final drive housing. At least one of the wheelsets is in drive connection with a drive motor of the rail vehicle. A transmission is usually arranged in this drive connection.
As a result, single-stage spur gears are usually used for the transmission of drive power from the drive motor to the wheels in metropolitan rail vehicles, i.e. in rail traffic with maximum operating speeds of 80 to 110 kilometers per hour (km/h). As a result of different maximum operating speeds which are usually between 80 km/h and 110 km/h and different motor concepts, the transmission ratios usually mostly vary between 6.3 and 7.7. This leads to the necessity that depending on the transmission ratio desired by the operator, which is chosen according to the intended maximum operating speed, a transmission needs to be chosen from a number of stored or offered transmissions of various sizes and to be installed in the rail vehicle. The producers of such railway vehicle transmissions therefore usually offer various transmissions of different sizes, in which the use of the same parts for the various transmissions sizes is extremely limited.
Torque supports are provided because such transmissions need to be supported against the driving torque of the drive motor concerning their installation position especially in the bogie of the rail vehicle. They allow an articulated support of the transmission on the bogie. The torque supports needs to bridge different distances depending on the size of the used transmission and the bogie and on the installation position. Consequently, a large number of different torque supports of different lengths and configurations need to be kept in stock. In the case of torque supports produced by primary forming, a separate tool is required for each embodiment. This increases the production and storage costs, both for new transmissions and also for the torque supports and spare parts. This is disadvantageous if, as a result of promises for warranty, the products of the various components need to be kept in stock over many years for a potentially necessary exchange. The increased variety is especially disadvantageous in the case of new developments, because in this case every single configuration needs to be adapted to the new technology. This consequently entails increased development costs.
What is needed in the art is a torque support and a bogie for a rail vehicle which avoids the disadvantages of the state of the art. In particular, a torque support should be provided which can be adapted easily to the different linkages of the final drive to the bogie and enable different lengths and angular installation positions. At the same time, the variety of components and the development and production costs should be reduced.